meandering, markets, Melbourne, too many cookbooks, food writers, food blogs, way too much chocolate and a handful of recipes

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Cooking For Children 1: Easter Treats

A few days after Easter and here it is! I had hoped to have the Plumbaby help me with these, but a little accident meant that his hands were in bandages and melted chocolate was a no no. But he could still enjoy the finished product with gusto! I mentioned here that I was using a Trish Deseine recipe for Easter Eggs. A very simple one, this requires simply chocolate and breakfast cereal of your choice. I used Callebaut 53% dark chocolate callets and Rice Bubbles and Vita Wheaties.

To make, I melted the chocolate in the microwave on medium heat. Stirred until the last of the chips were melted. Added handfuls of Rice Bubbles until the grains were coated well and then pressed into a clean dry mould. Once the cereal is added, the chocolate begins to set quite quickly and while you are finicking around with a rogue Rice Bubble, you may find that half your mixture has now stuck hard to the side of the bowl. Ahem. I'd recommend making this in several smaller batches, particularly when children are helping in the kitchen.

I tried both the large "hollow" egg halves and the solid smaller egg halves. The density of the mixture makes it difficult to obtain a truly hollow shell unless you have a giant mould, and the size of the cereal grains affect how solidly a small mould can be filled. Some of the solid ones were not particularly egg-shaped. I mean, they had a vague egg-shape, but when you compare them to these small ones which were filled with raisins and chocolate ... The wholewheat Vita Wheaties cereal produced a crunchy spectacle!This cereal is a healthier option than the Rice Bubbles, which also contains sugar, salt and various additives. I bought some puffed brown rice, but the grains are twice as long and don't shape well. But otherwise, it's an Easter Treat which is considerably lower in sugar than standard milk chocolate eggs. Not bad for the little cooks and well, the big ones liked them too!

Reminder: please send your Cooking For Children Easter Treats to me at favouriteplum(at)yahoo.com.au by 23 April 2006.